| The Balance of Trade | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Studio album by Paul Lytton | |
| Released | 1996 |
| Recorded | May 15 and 16, 1996 |
| Studio | The Spirit Room, Rossie, New York |
| Genre | Free jazz |
| Label | CIMP 114 |
The Balance of Trade is an album by drummer and electronic musician Paul Lytton. It was recorded in May 1996 at The Spirit Room in Rossie, New York, and was released later that year by the CIMP label. On the album, Lytton is joined by trumpeter Herb Robertson, violinist Philipp Wachsmann, and bassist Dominic Duval. [1] [2]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| The Penguin Guide to Jazz |   [3] |
The authors of the Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings awarded the album 31⁄2 stars, calling it "visionary in scope." They noted that Lytton's gigantic drum kit "apparently took several hours to set up," although he used it "as sparsely as possible" in the context of the recording. They wrote: "each [piece] seems to last as long as it ought to, or has to... Nobody has ever used electronics in the way [Lytton] does; in fact, it's hard to hear how his electronics even affect the music." They concluded by describing the album as being "about as difficult as it gets." [3]
Bill Shoemaker, writing for Jazz Times , called the album "challenging," and commented: "The quartet works with the aural equivalent of sub-atomic particles, realigning bits of texture into startling new configurations. Rather than emphasize virtuosity, the work taxes the musicians' ability to build upon emerging forms with tenuously defined materials. It's a cliché to say that such albums reward committed listening, but, in the case of The Balance of Trade, it's true." [4]
Joe McPhee is an American jazz multi-instrumentalist born in Miami, Florida, a player of tenor, alto, and soprano saxophone, the trumpet, flugelhorn and valve trombone. McPhee grew up in Poughkeepsie, New York, and is most notable for his free jazz work done from the late 1960s to the present day.
Clarence "Herb" Robertson is a jazz trumpeter and flugelhornist. He was born in Piscataway, New Jersey and attended the Berklee School of Music. He has recorded solo albums and has worked as a sideman for Tim Berne, Anthony Davis, Bill Frisell, George Gruntz, Paul Motian, Bobby Previte, and David Sanborn.
Paul Lytton is an English free jazz and free improvising percussionist.
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